


The Betrayer

by Ashleth224



Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:26:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25792834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleth224/pseuds/Ashleth224
Summary: Gabrielle's untold experience during "The Deliverer."
Relationships: Gabrielle & Xena
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Disturbance

Gabrielle awoke flailing. Clawing at the blanket that had bunched up around her throat, she threw the covering off entirely and sat up.

The sardonic remark that had been bubbling in Xena’s mouth died on her tongue when her sidekick’s labored breaths turned to sobs. “Gabrielle? Gabrielle, what is it?”

Shaking her head, the bard hunched over her knees, wrapping her arms around them. Tears dripped along her thighs until they absorbed into her skirt.

“It was that damned dream again, wasn’t it?”

She nodded dully, her forehead rubbing against her crossed arms.

Xena ended a brief internal debate with herself by uncomfortably laying an arm over the girl’s shoulders. Physical reassurance not being one of her many skills, she was never sure how to initiate it. She sighed when her friend flinched from her touch and curled into a tighter ball. So, Xena pushed Gabrielle instead. “Hey, don’t blame me. I told you I shouldn’t be doing the cooking. You may have won a bet for once in our lives, but is this really a reward?” the dark-haired woman asked with a warm chuckle.

The strawberry-blonde sniffled. “Yeah, no more cooking for you. I change my prize to that,” she said as she rested her temple on Xena’s shoulder.

“Works for me.” The warrior tried a second time to enfold the girl in comfort. Her spirits rose when Gabrielle snuggled closer to her. “I have a theory!” she announced a moment later.

“You?” the bard asked in a bid at her usual humor.

“Yeah, me. You’ll never guess what it is either.”

“What is it?”

“I think… that cheese is not a dinner food. That’s what’s been giving you these strange dreams.”

Gabrielle sighed despite trying to keep up her smile. “I told you, Xena. I have the gift of prophecy.”

“Is that so? Then how come whenever you pick where we set up camp or a watering spring, we go astray?”

“Because I’m not interpreting the signs,” she mumbled.

“And what are the signs?”

“I don’t know…”

Conversation dropped away then. The two friends sat side by side before the dying embers of their campfire. One looked inward, the other ever looking outward, watching, always watching. Neither one saw a thing.

Every few days for weeks on end, the same dream had been plaguing Gabrielle. In it, she stood in a circle of faceless people. The figure beside her, she could see no more clearly than the rest but was familiar to her somehow.

Like a friend, or maybe something more. Someone for whom her feelings extended beyond friendship, perhaps.

But it wasn’t Xena.

Was it?

Gabrielle turned her head to admire, as ever, the warrior’s profile. A pale blue eye contrasted boldly with the dark orange sparks reflected on its surface; a proud cheekbone, too, stood at odds against the flames; raven locks of hair encircled the protrusion. Without thinking, Gabrielle reached out to smooth a few strands into place and so clear her view of the face she loved so much.

One jump set off another.

“S-sorry!” she breathed while Xena muttered, “Hey!”

“Got you back,” the smaller of the pair said in a tired singsong before returning the push she had received.

“For what?” Xena tried to complain. Hearing the emerging smile in her dear friend’s voice made it difficult for her to truly be annoyed, however.

“Scaring me a moment ago,” Gabrielle responded in that low, husky tone she sometimes took on and that her companion enjoyed to no end.

“ _This_ is the thanks I get for trying to be comforting?” In a fit of feigned pique, Xena retracted her arm to cross it with the other. “ _Well_ , you won’t catch me doing _that_ again!”

“Yes, I will,” Gabrielle answered in soft contentment.

A pause drew out between the pair.

“Yes, you will,” Xena grumbled back. “But don’t go telling anyone.”

“I won’t.”

“Good!”

The blonde made a sound between a snort and a puff of air. She loved Xena’s childish side, finding the times it came out to play such a joy for some unplaceable reason. Perhaps it had to do with that side of Xena being something she only ever let Gabrielle see.

Her hero kept up the act even while keeling over, stiff spine to her and hard arms still crossed.

“Thank you, Xena,” Gabrielle whispered before lying back down beside her friend.

“Hmph,” was the only answer the woman gave. Still, she allowed semi-hesitant hands to turn her over. Xena smiled when a soft forehead pressed against her arm. The warrior lifted her opposite hand to ruffle the girl’s silken hair. “Good night, little one.”

“Good night, Xena.”

#

“Why don’t you try stabbing the one with the knife?” she asked seemingly out of nowhere in the morning.

Gabrielle snapped her head up to look Xena in the eyes. “What?” she asked, blinking as if clearing her vision would clear her mind.

“In your dream. That’s the only thing you haven’t tried, isn’t it?”

The bard shrugged half-heartedly.

“It’s true. You’ve watched the guy get stabbed, gotten stabbed yourself trying to run away, given the knife to him only to get yourself slashed in two when the girl takes up a sword instead; all that. At least keep hold of the knife so no one can use it against you.”

Silence.

“I never said it was a man and a woman.” _I didn’t know it was a man and a woman_ , Gabrielle thought to herself.

“It’s obvious from the energy coming off them.”

“How-”

Xena’s brow furrowed, and she looked back at Gabrielle just as intensely as Gabrielle was staring at her. “You told me.”

“No, I…” Gabrielle cocked her head to the side. It wasn’t the first time that she had gotten the feeling that her friend was psychic. Nor was it the first time that she and Xena had seemed to be able to read each other’s minds. _No, it’s more than that. We clarify each other’s thoughts,_ brought a tiny smile to her lips. Then her own eyebrows furrowed, and she frowned. “I couldn’t stab anyone, Xena. It’s not in me.”

“It’s in everyone, Gabrielle.”

The bard shivered. Such was not her friend’s usual response; quite the opposite, in fact. It sometimes seemed that Xena prized her blood innocence even more than Gabrielle herself did.

“I’d _want_ you to stab her if you were in that situation!” the warrior muttered as she looked down and got back to packing up their things. Through private pondering of her friend’s predicament, she had come to a reluctant realization: She would rather the girl be a living killer than a dead innocent, even in real life.

Gabrielle’s jaw dropped so far, she actually took a step back to save her toes. _I’m dreaming again._

“You’re not dreaming.”

A hot flash followed by a cold tingle washed over her for the innumerable time. “I-”

“Listen, Gabrielle, there’s something wrong with those people. I think they’re so blurry because the light you can find even in the darkest soul is not in them; they’re a danger to you!” Once more, the woman approached the girl to put an arm around her. She sighed when her friend did not return the gesture.

Nor did Gabrielle lift her head.

Still, Xena did not sense rejection from the blonde. “It’s just a dream, little one. We both know you’d never stab someone. I don’t doubt that for a second! But since we are talking about a dream, you can do things you wouldn’t normally do. Maybe this one is plaguing you so because you aren’t really facing it. Defeat the dream so it will go away.”

Gabrielle dug the end of her staff deeper into the ashes of their campfire and twisted it harder. “Maybe you’re right…”

“Oh, wouldn’t that be the day?” The warrior put her hands on her hips and cocked one. Her right eyebrow followed suit.

Gabrielle’s mask-like smile could not get off the ground. “Yeah.”

Xena didn’t smile back.

#

Gabrielle scrambled bolt upright in a cold sweat yet again.

Xena groaned. “It’s worth a try, isn’t it? Then maybe we’ll _both_ get some sleep,” came out more pointedly than intended.

The girl dropped her chin to her chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered forlornly.

“Come ’ere.” Not waiting for a response, the warrior pulled the shaking bard onto herself.

Gabrielle snuggled even closer to her. “Th-”

“You’re welcome, little one.” Xena bent the arm under her friend and stroked her hair until her breathing eased.

“G-”

“Good night.”

Gabrielle fell asleep at once. She did not awaken prematurely either.

_Maybe you’re right…_


	2. Deception

Under construction for the time being.


	3. Defilement

Under construction for the time being.


	4. Desecration

Under construction for the time being.


	5. Dissolution

Under construction for the time being.


End file.
